Author Topic: 4x scope (Read 1133 times)

tipiguy · « **on:** December 09, 2004, 06:35:39 AM »

I have a 2x power scope on my 35 rem. Now in PA with antler restrictions I need a little more magnification to help count points. I was thinking about either a 4x simmons or burris.

Ed's TC has a Burris for $145. I found that Cabelas has 4x simmons for $115. Is Burris that much better? According to the websites, simmons has 15' FOV at 100 yards and Burris has 11' at 100yards. Eye relief was comparable.

Opinions welcome.

tipiguy

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2004, 06:44:46 AM »

Buy a binocular. That's what it's for checking game before you scope and shoot it. The 4X ain't gonna cut it. Get the binocular.

mkee · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2004, 07:05:40 AM »

I agree with Graybeard. Get a set of binocs to check things out. If you want more magnification for just shooting, I'd try a variable. You can get a 2-6x32 Simmons from Midway or MidSouth shooters supply for less the 120.00. I have a used one that I just removed from a contender barrel if you're interested.
mkee

rickyp · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2004, 08:42:47 AM »

Quote

Now in PA with antler restrictions I need a little more magnification to help count points. I was thinking about either a 4x simmons or burris

this is never a good way to check things out. what if what you think is a deer turns out to be a person. you now have a firearm pointed right at them. this could make for some uneasy moments

on another note. If I can not see an animal clear enough to count the (at least the main) points then it is not a good shot and I wont take it.

sgtt · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2004, 07:24:02 PM »

He didn't say he wanted more magnigation for game identification. I don't like anything over 2X in a pistol scope. I have a much harder time getting on target.

Graybeard · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2004, 07:32:03 PM »

Quote

He didn't say he wanted more magnigation for game identification.

Yeah really he sorta did altho he didn't use those exact words. What he did say was:

Quote

I have a 2x power scope on my 35 rem. Now in PA with antler restrictions I need a little more magnification to help count points.

In PA they have point restrictions and some areas there has to be four points on one side to be legal. He wants to use it to count those points. That's target or game identification to me. Don't think 4X is always gonna cut it tho. That's the reason we say use binoculars instead.

sgtt · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2004, 08:11:45 PM »

I totally agree with the use of binos for game identification. Maybe the original author could clarify his intended intrepritation.

Catfish · « **Reply #7 on:** December 11, 2004, 02:12:04 AM »

I have always used 2x scopes on my handgun untill this year I put a 4x Leupold on my Encore. It a real good scope, but I`m goung back to 2x for handgun hunting. AS previously stated, GET BINO`S. I use 8x Wind Rivers and for around $175 to $180 they are hard to beat. If you don`t want all that weight and don`t want to spend that much, Bushnell makes a nice pair of compacts, 8x, that retail for around $60, and I have found them alot cheaper on sale. They are not near as good as the higher priced bino`s in low lite though. If nothing else just go to a store with a good slection and compair all of the ones they have. Try to check they in as low a lite as you can.

Duffy · « **Reply #8 on:** December 11, 2004, 07:25:56 AM »

We have a 3 pt min here and there's times my 10X42 bino's aren't enough out here. The 4X is just going to make it harder to hold steady and narrow your view.

Doc T · « **Reply #9 on:** December 14, 2004, 05:40:26 AM »

I thought about this post this weekend as I was sitting in a deer stand. In some instances it is okay to use your scope to judge a game animal. For instance, this weekend, I was in a stand on the edge of a swamp. I could see a deer coming through the thicket 50 yds away from me, but I could only see legs and a body. The brush was too thick to see if it had antlers or not. It wasn't a doe day, so I had to make sure this was a legal deer. The deer was going to cross a shooting lane that I had cut. I raised my Contender and waited for it to step out. It did, and it was a big doe, not a shootable deer. The deer stayed in the shooting lane for about a second and a half. If I had been using binocs and it had been "Bullwinkle", I would have missed a trophy because there wouldn't have been time to shoot. The point is that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the target was a deer before I used my scope to determine if it was a LEGAL deer or not. Don't get me wrong, I am one of the most safety conscious hunters around. Sometimes there are exceptions to every rule. Oh, I carry binocs too.

rickyp · « **Reply #10 on:** December 14, 2004, 08:11:04 AM »

what if it was another hunter or DNR Warden caring one of the new deer decoys?
Even if this is your personal land people could be sneaking on and Chase wounded deer kids do not know land boundary and tend to love playing in the woods. how would you have felt if a person steeped right out behind the doe or if a some of kids came trough the shooting lanes with brown coats on?

It is never OK to use a cope mounted on a firearm to judge if an animal is shootable! even if it means missing a chance at shooting "Bullwinkle"
no animal is worth taking a chance of hunting another person or worse taking a human life.

If The deer stayed in the shooting lane for about a second and a half then you would not have enough time to get a good shot and in more cases then not wound the animal then kill it clean.

it takes more then a second and a half to decide if you are going to take the animal, then judge the distance' make sure the back ground (and fore ground) is clear, pick the animal up in a scope, pick up to the proper shooting spot, squeeze the trigger and shoot.

77hiboy · « **Reply #11 on:** December 14, 2004, 04:56:06 PM »

Well said rickyp. Words to live by!

Doc T · « **Reply #12 on:** December 15, 2004, 10:49:30 AM »

I will only say that the deer was 40yds away, I watched it walk through the woods, jump a small mudhole, land with its hind feet in the mudhole and make a splash. I could see its legs moving, ears twitching, and tail moving as it walked by. I could see exactly where all four feet were being placed on the ground with each step. In the thick Louisiana bottoms it is hard to tell antlers from branches even as close as 40 yards. You had to have been there, you would all have done the same thing. Believe me, I know better than to point my rifle at a target unless I have identified the target. I am an experienced hunter and I have hunted this stand many times. The deer always cross at the same point and I have always shot them at the same point. All killing shots that required no tracking, too, I might add. If I am not sure that I have a good, safe shot on an animal, I do not shoot, no matter what, be it deer, small game, or fowl.

Ex-Cajun · « **Reply #13 on:** December 17, 2004, 07:45:38 PM »

In reading this argument here, and being a hunter for about 30 years, I'll side with Doc T on this. I live in New Mexico, but was born and raised in the Louisiana swampland where deer run through some thick stuff. I see Ricky's point as well, but in reality, if a warden was walking through the woods with a decoy, he'd probably or should be wearing a BLAZE ORANGE vest! In where we used to hunt, kids won't be playing there and the game animals are there BECAUSE there are no kids!
I'll say that an experienced, well trained, safety conscious hunter is not going to pull the trigger on ANYTHING unless it's in the kill zone, at a shootable distance, with a safe background, at a legal game animal. In theory Ricky P might have a point, but in real-world outdoors, I know what I'm shooting at and I also know to look through a scope, with the gun on SAFE and WITHOUT MY FINGER WIGGLING ON THE TRIGGER!

rickyp · « **Reply #14 on:** December 19, 2004, 10:57:41 AM »

think how you would feel.
you are walking trough the swamp to your stand you lok up and see a hunter pointing a rifle right at you looking though the scope. then he sais "you sounded like a deer, you are lucky" how would the person that the rifle was pointed at know it was on safe and your finget was off the trigger?
There is NO TIME it is ok to use a scope to judge an animal.

the reason I feel so strong about this is because it happened to me. I was hunting when I lucked up and saw a hunter pointing a shotgun right at me I have also talked to hunters that told me that they took a few "sound shots"!

rickyp · « **Reply #15 on:** December 30, 2004, 03:22:25 PM »

one more reason not to use a scope for viewing objects.
a scope has a very narrow FOV this is because by design a scope is made to be focus in the bullet path. a set of binoculars have a wide FOV they are used to scanned pick out objects.

With the narrow FOV of a scope you may not be able to see that little doe standing beside that shootable buck you have your firearm pointed at. you will stand a good chance of bullet pass trough and killing a illegal deer. If you use a binocular you should be able to see her.